Note 103 — Chapter XXVIII · A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.—FELSTEAD’S.—DR. L. S. JAMESON.—TRIP TO THE TRANSVAAL.—MONS. GRANDIER.—UMBELINI AND CETYWAYO.—CHRISTIANA.—POTCHEFSTROOM.—PRETORIA.—THE ERSTE FABRIEKEN.—BATTLE-FIELD OF BRONKHORST SPRUIT.—BURGERS, SHEPSTONE AND LANYON.—MAPOCH AND MAMPOER.—START FOR NATAL.

In pondering over the state of matters then existing it was impossible for me not to picture in my mind the change time had wrought! A few short years before, I had seen and listened to Thomas Francois Burgers, full of eager anticipation of the future before him, speak most hopefully of the Transvaal, at a banquet given in his honor at Kimberley, as he passed through to assume the “dictatorship” of that republic. And when, in touching upon some observation I had made in proposing the toast of “the press,” he had emphasized the fact that “the pen was mightier than the sword.” And now, his expectations unrealized, his fond hopes withered, his ambition blighted, broken-down in health and spirits, it was not to be wondered at that he made no strenuous opposition to the advent of British rule.